Brody Jenner (Canada) suspended 3 games for late hit that injured a Swedish player in the pre-tourney games. in other news, water is wet.

Boone. And yeah, Boone has a history (he bonked Olli Maatta last year, IIRC) so this suspension is excessive because of that. The IIHF values injury highly, which is a dangerous game in its own right. But whatever, Canada will stick with him and he'll be back later in the tournament.

I'll wait to post comments on the games from this morning, because some people haven't seen them yet on the replay here in primetime...

Yeah, I mean, for the Germans, it's just a matter of staying in this tournament. They've been relegated every other year for a decade. They always end up in the bottom two. So, now that they only relegate one team, the Germans just want to remain with the elites. Cupper is a fine goalie and they have some major junior kids to get it done possibly. They started their backup against the Canadians on Boxing Day, just want to live to fight another day. Back to back games against Canada and the USA isn't a great start for them. But they just need to save their energy for a battle they can win. Might have to find a TSN feed because I can't listen to E.J. Hradek for another hour and a half...

I certainly don't have the skill or the knowledge to evaluate talent like you do, but when I see faceoffs and shots as lopsided as they are, I don't see a lot of hope for the Germans, and I think the US is probably closer to the talent median of this tournament than is Germany. Staying in this tournament I'm sure is a great source of pride, but I'm not sure what it really does to elevate the skill level of the prospect pool.

That's crippling for the Germans, you can't have that seconds into a period. That kills your morale.

At your other comment: This is a good chance to hone your skills with the guys you have. Like an additional exhibition match, sure things up defensively, you set goals for your players: "guys, we want 80% faceoffs this period..." "guys, no more than 5 shots against this period and no PKs" - things like that, set competitive goals to challenge your players, keep them sharp, avoid bad habits.

Brody Jenner (Canada) suspended 3 games for late hit that injured a Swedish player in the pre-tourney games. in other news, water is wet.

Boone. And yeah, Boone has a history (he bonked Olli Maatta last year, IIRC) so this suspension is excessive because of that. The IIHF values injury highly, which is a dangerous game in its own right. But whatever, Canada will stick with him and he'll be back later in the tournament.

I'll wait to post comments on the games from this morning, because some people haven't seen them yet on the replay here in primetime...

oops! my bad. thanks for the correction. I kept looking at it going, "is that right? it doesn't look right. I should double-check" and just never did. was there a Brody Jenner on The Hills or some other crappy show like that?

anyhow, Jenner got multiple games because he's a repeat offenderCanada may be down to 10 forwards for the USA game if the IIHF suspends the 2 players from today who were tossed. on the surface it looks like Yakupov was right about the Canadians.

Switched to the TSN feed because Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro call an excellent game. Mears isn't bad, still young and has some kinks to work out, but he has some potential. Hradek is just a complete dope, I can't listen to him.

I got the USA/Russia game late because Sweden/Switzerland ran long (shootout), good defensive effort as usual by the Swiss. Swedes with a dismissive effort, not willing to fight through the defense. Came away impressed with some players, unimpressed with others. Sweden switched their goalie for the shootout actually - the new goalie stopped all 3 shots, which were fairly weak attempts, mostly headed five hole. Interesting choice by Ronnberg.

Anyway, the Russia/USA game was a very good game. Good transition to it. The United States can't pass and the Russians refuse to, so I'm not sure which is worse. Got a little soft on the D zone coverage there with the mobile unit of Jones/Reilly, that led to the bull work by Nichushkin (2013) and rebound goal for the Russians. Gostisbhere continues to impress, a little bit of a gambler, but he's logging a ton of minutes here and looking pretty good. Flyers pick from Union College. Gibson - who was very bad against the Finns in last year's tournament - has been sharp and confident. He's on his game very well, his pushes are terrific and he's handling rebound control much better. Last year he was burping up pucks on routine plays, this year, he looks much more composed and confident. The Russians can't go wrong in net it looks like. They've played two games with two different goalies and they've each won player of the game plates (Vasilevskiy (TB) against the Slovaks, Makarov (BUF) against the Americans). Another terrible penalty late, one that might be looked at once again, by the Russians nearly cost them a much-needed point, or three.

The American lines and timing are kind of strange and weren't really adjusted in the third period when things began to stagnate a little. Some of the muckers and workers got out there with 2 minutes left in a 1-goal deficit, which isn't always a bad thing, but I'm just a bit surprised with some of the combinations Housley went with. No surprise that he wants to generate offense from the point and get the defensemen activated, almost to a fault, as we saw on the last rushes: ripe with blueline drop passes that were snuffed out by the chance-taking Russians out high. I wouldn't mind seeing Alex Galchenyuk a little more, and at center, get the puck on his stick and just see what happens a little more maybe.

The Americans aren't as good as the Russians in my opinion, but the lack of urgency from Russia is strange, the lack of teamwork is strange too. Given how often these guys have been together now...same basic team and same basic mindset as in the Subway Super Series - 1 guy will take on 1 to 4 players and if they score, good and if they don't, they'll just do it again. And look at Nichushkin's late goal, 1 on 4 basically and he had a late guy go hard to the net while the Americans watched Jones get beat to his own net down low. That was a game the Americans could have easily won or at least gotten a point out of...

I was watching on and off at work without sound, which isn't best for analysis (or for career longevity), but I'm not discouraged by the loss. It probably means no first round bye, but I didn't see anything that says the US can't compete against the other teams in the tourney. That doesn't mean we're the favorites by any stretch, but I don't see an obvious talent gap.